Baragon
Filmography *Frankenstien Conquers the World (1965) *Destroy all Monsters (1968) *All monsters all out Attack (2001) *Godzilla: Final Wars (2004) Appearances in other media Baragon appears as a villain in the 1988 NES game Godzilla: Monster of Monsters, and its sequel, as well as the Godzilla Game Boy title. The character also appears in Godzilla: Save the Earth and Godzilla: Unleashed. The costume used for Baragon was reused twice in the original Ultraman, the suit was used to make both the monsters Neronga and Gabora. Baragon appears via stock footage in the 1978 Indian B-movie Aadi Yug.[1] The Pokémon Nidoking and Nidoqueen possess physical features similar to Baragon. Popularity Although famous in the US (being its first film appearance an American-Japanese co-production), Baragon is also a very famous monster in Japan, mainly because the monster is very indicative of the creativity inherent in Eiji Tsuburaya's kaiju designs. Showa (1965) Frankenstein Conquers the World: Baragon was a dinosaur who burrowed underground to escape the extinction of the dinosaurs and other prehistoric creatures when they all died out. He adapted and survived. But when the sounds of a nearby factory disturbed and awakened him, he emerged from under ground and attacked that factory. He appeared later at Shirane and destroyed the village. Then he emerged at a farm, where he ate the livestock. During these attacks, Baragon was not seen, so the mutant human Frankenstein was blamed. But there was a person who survived the destruction of the factory who claimed there was a second monster that had attacked the factory. When a small group of scientists searched for Frankenstein, an explosive woke Baragon from his sleep. He emerged to attack the scientists, but Frankenstein appeared to protect them from the monster. The two fought a climactic battle, with Frankenstein ultimately defeating Baragon by choking him and breaking his neck. In the end, a fissure appeared beneath the two and swallowed them up into the Earth (1968) Destroy All Monsters: Baragon is seen as one of several monsters kept in captivity on Monster Island. Along with the rest of Earth's monsters, he is brought under the control of an alien race called the Kilaaks during their invasion of Earth and forced to destroy cities in their cause. He later breaks free from this mind control, and watches (but does not actually take part in) the fight against the Kilaaks and their remaining monster, King Ghidorah before returning to Monster Island with the other Earth monsters. It is presumed this was the same Baragon that battled Frankenstein. Use of the suit Of all the monsters in the Toho fame, the Baragon suit was borrowed and used the most by Tsuburaya Productions, the company made famous for its work on the TV show Ultraman. The Baragon suit was reused several times to create the monsters in the series: Neronga, Gabora, and Magular, as well as Pagos from Ultra Q. Notably, Haruo Nakajima (the Godzilla suit actor as well as suit actor for Baragon in his initial debut) also played the suit actor for these monsters (with the exception of Magular.) In Destroy All Monsters, Baragon was supposed to attack Paris for the film, using his burrowing ability to smash the Arc de Triomphe from below. Unfortunately, the Baragon suit was unavailable due to the fact it was on loan for work on Ultraman. Baragon was replaced with Gorosaurus for this scene, but was still blamed for the attack. Gorosaurus was also given Baragon's special burrowing ability and even his signature roar to further confuse viewers. Baragon was also supposed to be used as a guard for the Kilaak base, but he was not shown on screen while doing this, possibly for the same reason above. Baragon's other appearance was supposed to be in Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla. He was supposed to fight Mechagodzilla in the scene after he smashed that building, but instead they replaced him with Anguirus. Millenium In the Millennium series, Baragon reappeared in the 2001 film, Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack as one of three ancient guardian monsters. The other two are Mothra and King Ghidorah (originally Varan and Anguirus). When Godzilla is revived by the souls of the people who died in World War II, Baragon, Mothra, and King Ghidorah were summoned to protect the nation from the threat. Baragon was the first of the three guardians to confront Godzilla and was eventually killed by the monster's atomic breath. Baragon does not have a heat ray or a glowing horn, but he still has his burrowing and extraordinary jumping abilities. In Godzilla Final Wars, Stock footage of Baragon from Frankenstein Conquers the World was seen during the opening claiming that Baragon was one of many monsters that arose due to the devastation that the World Wars brought, along with Varan, Gezora, Gaira, Titanosaurus, and Megaguirus.